80s gays ☆ steve harrington ☆

christmas time shouldn't be a sad time

Important note! I've rewritten this entire fic (barring part 3 until it's completed) and posted it on AO3. It is a vast improvement to the original you see here, with fewer typos and better consistency. Seriously, it was a labour of love and has been greatly improved upon. Please do check it out, it would mean the world to me. Anyway, let's continue.

Another note - there is a sex scene in this chapter, so skip over it if it's not your thing.

chapter two
"christmas time shouldn't be a sad time"
stranger things

Theodore was doing well when it came to the semester at university. He was working hard, trying to get ahead in his studies. It kept his mind off the horrors he'd seen, and the weird feeling of someone watching him at all hours of the day. He was exhausted, holding onto the powers he'd developed. It was hard, keeping them in check. He'd had a few accidents in the long months since they'd first developed. With his major keeping him busy most of the time, he had not that much time to handle his minor. He'd taken a minor in Russian, mostly to catch up on the language Victor had taught him.

If he was unlucky - and he usually was - then he knew that there would be some Russians sneaking around Hawkins when he'd visit that hellhole. He had plans to return there, mostly to visit Steve and Robin. But not yet, not so soon after everything. Instead, Steve was going to be visiting him for Christmas.

But yeah, learning Russian on the side had seemed like a good idea at the time. It also meant that Mia was keen on surprise studying Russian. She'd taken to it very quickly and had tried her hand at learning the language too.

He was managing as well as he could. Sometimes he had bad days, where he couldn't get out of bed and couldn't stop crying. But he kept going. Looking back on things didn't help. So he kept going, moving on and moving forward.

Halloween came and went, with Steve and Robin surprising him. They dressed up as the Three Musketeers while Mia returned home to celebrate and steal the candy her dad left out for the kids. She mentioned something about Mischief Night, and how she so badly wanted to get back at the people who tried to swirly her in high school. When she returned a few days later, she triumphantly told Theodore that she'd TP'd their houses and managed to scare them with pig blood.

He didn't ask how she got the blood.

November had flashed by quickly, and Theodore spent Thanksgiving in bed with Steve, who had come to join him yet again. Theodore always felt bad, because Steve was seriously throwing money at his gas to get there and back, and he refused to let Theodore give him any. He said it was worth it, seeing Theodore again - and even mentioned how he liked that they had the place to themselves.

Having Steve there with him, and in his bed, did make things easier to deal with. Theodore missed Steve so badly sometimes, and having him there on those special occasions, to celebrate with him, it made things bearable. It was his first Halloween without his mom trying to get them to dress up to scare the trick-or-treaters and was his first Thanksgiving without trying to help his mom with the dinner. He could remember just how many times she'd burned the turkey. They used to give up and order a pizza.